Rating agency Standard & Poor's said it may cut its BBB
rating of Ackman's publicly traded Pershing Square Holdings
vehicle in the wake of weak investment returns and a
sharp drop in its net asset value.

"The fund's performance since we initiated the rating on PSH
in May 2015 has been weaker than peers, in contrast to its
stellar track record in previous years," S&P analysts wrote,
noting that the fund lost money on 11 of 12 positions since
October 2015.

The fund's net asset value tumbled to $3.8 billion this week
from $5.3 billion in October 2015, the S&P analysts wrote. That
pushed the fund's debt-to-total-assets ratio to more than 20
percent from 15 percent at the end of October 2015.

The most immediate cause for Ackman's woes is the sharp
decline in drug company Valeant Pharmaceuticals' stock
price, which crashed more than 50 percent this week and cause
Ackman's firm to lose roughly $1 billion on paper. The company
delivered worse-than-expected financial guidance and raised the
chance of defaulting on its debt if it breaches agreements with
creditors by not filing its annual report on time.

This year alone, the Pershing Square Holdings fund, which
has been trading publicly since 2014, lost 26.4 percent. That
followed on a 20 percent drop in 2015. The year it was listed in
Amsterdam, it scored a 40 percent gain.
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